Summer days

Warm summer days. Fields of sunshine, with buttercups,  rivers edged with  cream lace of hog weed and hemlock, meadow sweet in bud, blue cranes bill , ragged robin  and the darting of damsel flies, precious  jewels in the golden light of evening.   Scent of  elder flower, honeysuckle and freshly cut hay. And in the garden, honeysuckle again, mock orange and sweet williams. Oh how I love sweet williams.

Elder flowers freshly picked in the sun, insects shaken off and ready to be turned into cordial.  The strong smell of elder takes me back to childhood, not the delicate sweet perfume of the blooms, but the leaves and stems.  Breaking off an elder stick to use as a play bow and arrow  and stripping the bark back.

Lemon zest added.

Then soaked overnight. The kitchen smelled delicious.

The next morning I finished it off, straining, adding sugar, simmering, cooling etc. Now there is a large bottle of thirst quenching 'hedgerow delight' in the fridge for sunny days.

This little prince has been hanging around quite a lot this past week. I'm sure he could tell you a thing or two about Elder? Don't worry I haven't stolen all his future Autumn berries, there are plenty to go around this year. 

Some bits and pieces to show that I've been working on. The pendant, a gift for someone.

Coyote and moth.

I'm having a bit of a break from wooden hangers now and will be concentrating on some paintings. I love doing the hangers, but I have to keep a balance, otherwise the muse gets somewhat grumpy. ;) This is what I've been up to, playing with ink, and pencil in my sketchbook.  

Initial idea then painted onto a piece of wood that I was going to discard because it had a crack in, but I decided that the crack could be incorporated into the picture. A crack in the universe somehow.

                                                                      'Nights Portal'

'There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in' ~Leonard Cohen

This evening, the eve of the summer solstice, we sat out in front of a fire, listening to the song thrush sing it's goodnight song. Enjoying the outdoors at the middle of the year, we watched the clouds gently move away and the sky cleared for the stars to appear. On the window frame there were two Buff Ermine moths in love. Aren't they perfectly beautiful!

                           

Wishing you all a wonderful Midsummer solstice. x

I shall leave you with some Coldplay that I've been listening to all week whilst painting my own sky of stars. I love this and it makes me want to dance around the garden beneath the stars whenever I hear it. I might just do that later today? :)